7 Black Handbag Designers to Celebrate All Year Long

Step up your handbag game by shopping these innovative brands.

If you're in the market for a new purse, skip the fast fashion dupes and consider supporting brands creating something unique and special instead. These seven Black handbag designers have gone beyond creating stunning designs. They’ve also dedicated themselves to making the world a more beautiful and equitable place as they've achieved success.

From uplifting Black creatives and communities to utilizing sustainable business practices and speaking truth to power, each of these Black handbag designers is doing it for the culture.

Related:63 Black-Owned Brands to Shop All Year Round

Telfar Clemens

• Brand: Telfar

• Location: New York, New York

• Why We Love This Designer: Let's start with Telfar's motto: "Not For You — For Everyone," and then move on to the fact that Telfar Clemens, the Liberian-American designer and brand founder, is a true visionary. In 2017, Telfar was the first Black-owned brand to win  CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund award, and since then, the brand, as the kids say, has stayed winning. The bags are gorgeous, but the authenticity and diversity of the designer in charge is just as magnetic. As Clemens told InStyle in 2021, "Our practices have always been our values. It's not some new call for social justice. I'm into the world sharing in these ideas, but I'm also just into being me."

Brandon Blackwood

• Brand: Brandon Blackwood

• Location: New York, New York

• Why We Love This Designer: We fell in love with Brandon Blackwood's eponymous brand when its End Systemic Racism mini-totes hit the scene in 2020. Blackwood studied neuroscience in college before switching to a major in fashion during his senior year and he hasn't looked back since. The clean lines and thoughtful silhouettes of his designs aren't all there is to love though. Blackwood also launched the Brandon Blackwood Foundation in 2020 with the goal of helping young Black creatives achieve their goals.

Related:10 Black-Owned Fashion Brands to Shop on Amazon

Blake Van Putten

• Brand: Cise

• Location: Los Angeles, California

• Why We Love This Designer: Cise is a brand that's truly doing it for the culture by giving back to and uplifting Black communities and creators and founder Blake Van Putten's designs keep Cise's message front and center. From its vegan leather Protect Black Women mini bags to its suede Protect Black People totes, Cise is 100% unfiltered, embossed, and empowered goodness.
  

Ashley Ciriaco

• Brand: Ciriaco

• Location: New York, New York

• Why We Love This Designer: Ashley Ciriaco doesn't just create beautiful accessories. The Dominican-American designer's handbags are cruelty-free and crafted using sustainable practices. Ciriaco's designs manage to be both exhilarating, thanks to their asymmetry and vibrancy, and timeless. As she told Hypebae, "I don’t want to be another fast fashion brand. I want my bags to still be cute and chic one hundred years from now." We say mission accomplished.
  

Aurora James

• Brand: Brother Vellies

• Location: New York, NY

• Why We Love This Designer: Aurora James launched her designer luxury brand, Brother Vellies, in 2013, but that was only the beginning. In 2020, James founded the 15% Pledge, which not only went viral, but changed the way that America shops. She's a true revolutionary and her brand is adored by mononym powerhouses Beyoncé, Rihanna, and Zendaya. Any questions?
  

Related:Aurora James Won't Apologize for Getting Your Attention

Wilglory Tanjong 

• Brand: Anima Iris

• Location: Dakar, Senegal

• Why We Love This Designer: Wilglory Tanjong, founder of Anima Iris, named her brand after her childhood bestie and her mother. The colorful, luxury handbags pay homage through their designs to African culture and are handcrafted in Dakar, Senegal. Tanjong's handbags aren't just sustainably-sourced, they're also produced on a zero-waste model, which means no two are exactly the same, no materials are wasted, and Tanjong is at the forefront of sustainable innovation.
  

Yvonne Koné

• Brand: Yvonne Koné

• Location: Copenhagen, Denmark

• Why We Love This Designer: Each of Koné's minimal, architectural handbags is a true objet d'art, but her designs also speak to her heritage and culture. Her brand's website also features photo diaries from Koné herself, which are both dreamy and inspiring.
  

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